Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – January 1, 2023
by Tony Wikrent
The dark side
Fintan O’Toole, January 19, 2023 issue [The New York Review]
Reading
Apparently, he’s staying at Mar-a-Lago. How perfect. What’s a MAGA man to do after losing an election? Emulating President Trump, Brazil’s outgoing president, Jair Bolsonaro, plans to skip his successor’s inauguration ceremony and travel instead to — where else — Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Bolsonaro will avoid handing over the official presidential sash to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at an inauguration ceremony at Brasilia on Sunday. Instead, the October election loser will fly this weekend to Florida for a visit with Mr. Trump at the famed Palm Beach resort, several Brazilian press outlets report. On Tuesday, the official Brazilian government website published a statement saying that the Office of Institutional Security has confirmed that the security team for Mr. Bolsonaro’s family will be “on a trip to Miami, Florida,” next week. “Bolsonaro will not be in Brazil for the inauguration ceremony,” a professor of international relations at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Regiane Nitsch Bressan, told the Sun.
We are being led in our anti-China hysteria by the United States which is not concerned that China will attack us, or even the United States, but is concerned that its world hegemony is being challenged. A repost from November 11, 2022 That is why the US is persistently goading China into conflict and possible Continue reading »
This article was originally published in the March 1950 issue of the Bulletin in the wake of President Harry Truman’s announcement that the United States would pursue a hydrogen bomb. The idea of achieving security through national armament is, at the present state of military technique, a disastrous illusion. On the part of the United Continue reading »
Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin, who just died at the age of 96, made changes that altered the nature of the country’s government and the course of the global economy, affecting people worldwide, although few people realise it. Most reports provide key dates in his life but don’t explain his biggest contribution: a policy change that Continue reading »
A groundbreaking new report From Outrage to Opportunity: How to Include The Missing Perspectives of Women of All Colours in News Leadership and Coverage has found that women continue to be significantly underrepresented in editorial leadership roles and news coverage worldwide – with their voices muted in a global news industry still dominated by men. Continue reading »
Capitalism and “liberal democracy” are failing and destroying our world. In this, the third in a three-part series, I explore how Australia must embrace a new future by emphasising trade and cultural relationships in foreign policy, managing mass media concentration and the military/industrial complex, and addressing social inequality. We have the means. Do we have Continue reading »
Something of epochal importance happened in Egypt last week – the most significant event since Cheops shoved up his triangular monument, four thousand odd-years ago at the dawn of ‘civilisation’. But the world media, true to form, missed it almost completely. A repost from November 21, 2022 The nations of the world voted to terminate Continue reading »
The meeting between Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping put me in mind of the public reaction in Australia when Whitlam met Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1971. A repost from November 17, 2022 The meeting in Bali is potentially more than just a diplomatic reset. It could be a pivotal moment for Australia, in the Continue reading »
Siberian artist marks the coming year with a dung sculpture of rabbit (Thanks to pharmaross)
It was a “battle on the bowl” as Collier County deputies did what they needed to pry a burglar off the toilet of a house he had forced himself into. (Thanks to pharmaross)
My prediction for 2023 is that the corruption of all levels of law enforcement will be increasingly hard to ignore, but politicians will still ignore it!
When the most powerful politicians in the country have an obvious law enforcement problem very close to home (Secret Service, Capitol Police, FBI, effing IRS enforcement), and do *nothing* about it, well...
When the most powerful politicians in the country have an obvious law enforcement problem very close to home (Secret Service, Capitol Police, FBI, effing IRS enforcement), and do *nothing* about it, well...
Once again, thank you so, so much for your support this year. I am genuinely overwhelmed. The readers of this blog are the nicest people in the world and I could not be more grateful. Here’s hoping that this next year brings us some peace and stability. I always wish that every year. But even if it doesn’t, we’ll be here documenting, analyzing and synthesizing the news as we see it. Tom, Dennis, tristero, spocko, Batocchio and I look forward to delivering it to you every day of the week as we’ve been doing for the past 20 years. To all that we lost and all that we gained in the past year, and to all that’s to come in the days ahead…cheers! — digby
I have argued that in order for a mathematical modeling exercise to illuminate its target the following two conditions must be met:(1*) the objects under investigation must plausibly be stable, modular, and quantitative, with no qualitative differences among instantiations of each type; and (2*) the relations between them must be fixed and law-like throughout the […]
A brief recap before the storm The White House wants to remind you what Democrats got done last year. Maybe because unless the GOP self-destructs the Biden administration’s ability to be loud and proud has a short half-life. I know someone needing the shingles vaccine. As of today there is no cost for those covered under Medicare Part D. If eligible, get vaccinated. Here is one benefit that slipped by me. We’ll see how much more Biden can get done in 2023 with a hostile, Republican-controlled House obsessed with investigating Anthony Fauci and Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop. Jeffrey Billman of Informed Dissent cautioned that we’re looking at two years of Benghazis because “when you elect clowns, you get a circus.” It will be a clown show or a horror show, one way or another. Update: Forgot to link to this Guardian longer review of more good news from 2022.
I wish you with this illustration strength and courage against all the "dragons" who might be on your way in 2023.
Can you see the numbers in the silhouettes? I'm doing this type of illustration yearly on the blog for the new year, I have a tag with all of them since 2009 if you want to see this little tradition.
Big-Butt Ants Are A South American Delicacy (Thanks to pharmaross)
People gobsmacked over size of 'bigfoot jumbo' sausage from local chippy (Thanks to Emily, Leslie and w) Morrisons shoppers gobsmacked as Easter eggs spotted on Boxing Day (Thanks to pharmaross) People gobsmacked by Asda's 'great value' air fryer that can...
We joined thousands of revellers who accepted the invitation and sent avatars of themselves to Midnight in The Metaverse on New Year's Eve. An avatar of Paris, 41, greeted fans from a DJ booth, with hearts behind her, at Club...
A cloud formation baring eerily resemblance to a flying saucer out of Jordan Peele’s sci-fi film “Nope” shocked California residents this week. An Aussie woman’s incredible clip of an Outback toilet filled with green tree frogs has stunned the internet....
A holiday anthem perfect for Maryland is the song "Crabs for Christmas" (Thanks to ImNotDave)
Guess they were right about all the crimeing going on there. Stealing over $100K!
Machete attack in NYC Confetti rained at midnight in Times Square as revelers greeeted the new year. The crowd was a sign of a return to normal, perhaps, depending on what happens with the latest Covid variant. Earlier in the evening, however, something darker occurred nearby. Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in an early morning press conference that a man wielding a machete attacked a group of city police officers just after 10 p.m. near a security checkpoint for the New Year’s Eve event. The 19-year-old struck several officers in the head before he was shot in the shoulder, wounded, and apprehended by officers. Three officers were hospitalized and in stable condition, one with a head fracture, another with a severe laceration. Reporting is preliminary, but the attack is under investigation to determine whether it fits a terrorism profile (CNN): The FBI, NYPD and Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating, officials said in an early New Year’s Day joint news conference. “I want to be very clear … there is no ongoing threat,” said Mike Driscoll, the FBI assistant director in charge of the New York field office.